Staff Technician Senior

The MMT Observatory (MMTO) seeks a Senior Staff Technician to join the MMTO team to support the operation of a modern world-class optical/infrared astronomical observatory. The MMTO, a joint venture of The University of Arizona and the Smithsonian Institution, operates a 6.5-meter telescope located on the summit of Mt. Hopkins (elevation 8550 ft), approximately 40 miles south of Tucson, AZ. Additional details regarding the telescope and its instrumentation can be found at http://mmto.org.

We are seeking a self-motivated, detail oriented individual with a wide variety of experience and skills related to instrument support. The successful candidate will join the MMTO’s newly formed Instrument Support Group (ISG). He/she will coordinate and participate in a wide variety of instrument related activities with the goal of maximizing the reliability and optimizing the performance of the MMTO’s astronomical instrumentation. This instrumentation includes imagers, spectrographs, adaptive optics systems, wavefront sensors, and calibration units. In addition to working with the engineering and scientific staff at the Observatory, the successful candidate will also collaborate with staff and scientists at the University of Arizona and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

This position is based on the summit of Mt. Hopkins with an official duty station at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) basecamp at 670 Mt. Hopkins Rd in Amado, AZ. The typical work schedule will be four or five days per week with occasional weekend and nighttime shifts required to assist with instrument changes, system troubleshooting and repair, and integration, checkout, and performance analysis of new and existing hardware. Some projects and specific activities will require work at the MMTO’s University of Arizona campus labs or offices.

To apply go to http://uacareers.com/postings/40823. Application reviews begin 9/20/19. The University of Arizona is an EEO/AA Employer-M/W/D/V.